55 thoughts on “January 5, 2016: What Can Be Left?”

  3. Another twist of fatherhood hit home last night as I was laying in bed. Mrs. Hayes was playing a Beatles playlist as we were setting up the crib in the nursery on Sunday. I was enjoying the music, but when "When I'm Sixty-Four" came on, I got a weird feeling. After reflecting on it more last night, I think I understand why: I'm closer to 64 than I am to my own child's age when she arrives. Fewer years are ahead of me than behind me to reach this arbitrary milestone set a half-century ago by a Liverpuddlian in his mid-teens. That might seem a bit oblique at first, but neither my dad or his mother reached 64. If I reach 64, my kid will still be just a bit older than I was when Pops passed. It wasn't written as a song about parenthood, but it's not a stretch to hear it that way.

    By the way, Beau's doing a Beatles song countdown. You should check it out.

    2. Thanks! I can say with certainty that this song is not in my bottom 20, nor is it number 1.

      When my grandmother died when I was 25 I didn't reflect on my mortality much. But now that I'm a parent, every time someone dies, even if they're a distant cousin, I think about it. I desperately want my son to experience his grandparents into adulthood and I sometimes dwell too long on what they'll miss if it doesn't happen.

      1. These are thoughts on my mind these days, not surprisingly.

        I lost my first grandparent when I was in junior high. As the youngest of youngest children, I got lucky. The other three didn't start dying off until the mid-1990s, when I was in my 30s.

        My own kids made it through high school (and one nearly through college) before losing a grandparent.

        1. I wasn't around the other day, but your family remains in my thoughts Zombieman.

          I made it to high school before losing a grandparent. I'm in my mid-30's now, and have all 3 remaining grandparents around, though with some health scares for all 3 in the past couple years. The real reason I'm chiming in though is the weirdness that happened the other day re: death... my daughter (now 4) admitted that she didn't remember her aunt. My son's memories aren't many. I didn't really expect that they would remember her forever, and they're still aware of her, but not in a personal way. That hit pretty hard.

      2. Try doing twenty-some funerals every year. I try not to dwell on death too much, but it quite often has a way of forcing itself into my consciousness.

        1. I can't imagine.

          Had a good chat with one of the 24/7 home care folks last week. What a tough business. She had a great attitude, but it has to take a toll caring for people you know are gonna die on your watch. And still, she and her sisters managed to be very warm and personal.

          1. I worked in nursing homes for 8 years. I think because it's a place where people are expected to die, it's a little easier to acclimate the experience as opposed to say an ER doctor who has to break unexpectedly horrible news. Plus if you have a good team you can do really good work helping family and staff through the grieving process, which often starts well before someone dies.

            1. That's very true. It takes a certain type of person to work in a nursing home, but good people there can be a tremendous help both to the residents and their families. And there is a certain satisfaction to being able to help people through that time, as well as a feeling of honor in being invited into people's lives at such a sensitive time.

  4. We have a flash flood watch from 10 a.m. PST today until late tomorrow night and the five-day forecast from Yahoo is showing rain on four of those days. I think it's safe to say that El Nino is finally starting to assert itself.

      1. Stay safe, Rhu.

        Cali is getting dumped on today. By tomorrow afternoon, the storm is supposed to be dumping snow on ABQ/Santa Fe. Hoping the Boy and a cousin (flying from STL) can make it in.

        Internment is scheduled for friday (service on thursday). Depending on conditions....

        1. The animals have to start pairing up before we have issues, although we did have water dripping into the basement from not-to-well-installed siding around the stove vent and the sliding glass door on the walkout. Still, a pond overflowed the street near Runner daughter's, cutting of her direct access between our places. Now that the rivers have fallen, more rain later this week.

          Hope travel and plans work out for you.

          1. We have never had problems at our house with flooding, but one of the main streets to get to our house floods so often that whenever there are two clouds in the sky they put the flooded sign out. The only other way to drive out of here also has some areas where we can get some major puddles so it can be difficult to get in or out during a major rainstorm. Fortunately, the flooding has never lasted for very long after the rain lets up. The main problem is the drains just get overwhelmed and need time to get rid of the water.

    3. They're going name crazy with storms now. This one today is named Diane and was a Category 4 when it came to shore and will be a Category 3 when it gets here. Still mainly just rain with minor winds (40 mph which is nothing compared to Santa Ana winds). Apparently, there are two more storms coming this week behind Diane. They will be named Eugene and Francis.

      1. Gustavo's going to pack quite the punch when it shows up. I wouldn't worry too much about Diane or Francis though. They don't seem all that scary.

    4. ...El Nino is finally starting to assert itself.

      It's been asserting itself in Minnesota for weeks. We've had a mild winter so far and won't have our first sub-zero low of the season until Saturday, nearly a third of the way through January. That's rare in my experience.

        1. I once represented a Muslim family in New Ulm. You can imagine...

          I once was told by a Southern MN housing authority official that she didn't understand why all the minorities had to move to her community. Couldn't they go someplace else, like New Ulm, because New Ulm is so welcoming?

            1. New Ulmites are such good Minnesotans that the two most prominent buildings* (the Cathedral and HtG) are passive-aggressive towards each other. (I forget which was first.)

              *outside of grain elevators and water towers

          2. It is welcoming. Bootsy's been misled. Probably Katoites in false-flag rudeness operations.

    3. I can remember seeing photos of Steinbach with a goatee, but I can't say how long ago or whether they're on the web.

      Edit: I did find this photo, which catches a young, full-bearded Steinbach colliding with Tony Pena.

    1. I'm trying to think of the last time someone with DePodesta's experience has switched professional leagues. I'm sure it happens fairly frequently at the lower levels of front offices, but it seems like once a guy builds a reputation in one league that's where he stays.

      1. Gary Bettman was a top NBA executive before taking over the NHL. Its the only one that comes to mind.

        1. Don Garber was pretty high up in the NFL before becoming MLS commissioner. But those are both guys taking over leagues, which is essentially just running a specialized business. I wonder about teams, because player evaluation would be greatly different one would think.

          1. They weren't both "professional", but Michigan football coach and athletic director Bo Schembechler was the president of the Detroit Tigers from 1990-92.

          2. This is what I was thinking. A suit in the league office is one thing, but a (former) GM switching sports seems pretty unlikely.

      1. I'm just hoping they don't get off to slow starts, because if they do they'll probably get sent back to Rochester "for more seasoning".

        1. And we'll hear more garbage about how all Asian players can't make it in Minnesota.

            1. Here I thought hoped this comment was going to be about the Papist and Atheist statues glaring at each other above the New Ulm "skyline".

    2. Between Park and Byron Buxton, the Twins should have a tandem with the talent between them to take home the AL's Rookie of the Year award in 2016.

      I would have sworn that Buxton had more than 130 AB and wouldn't qualify for RoY next year, but he just squeaked by with 129 (in 138 PA).

        1. I didn't know this either, but apparently, it is AB's.

          Determining rookie status:
          A player shall be considered a rookie unless, during a previous season or seasons, he has (a) exceeded 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched in the Major Leagues; or (b) accumulated more than 45 days on the active roster of a Major League club or clubs during the period of 25-player limit (excluding time in the military service and time on the disabled list).

          source

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